Richard Boyd Barrett
Question:992. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will consider establishing a museum in Tuam dedicated to victims of abuse by religious orders. [12805/26]
View answerTuesday, 17 February 2026
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Written answers
The National Centre for Research and Remembrance, to be located in Sean MacDermott Street, Dublin 1, will comprise a museum and exhibition space, a research centre and repository of records related to institutional trauma in the 20th century, and a garden space for reflection and remembrance. This Centre will honour equally all those who spent time in Industrial Schools, Magdalen Laundries, Mother and Baby and County Home Institutions, Reformatories, and related institutions, and all those who have lived experience of Ireland’s historical adoption and boarded out systems.
The masterplan and preliminary business case for the National Centre campus were approved in 2023/24. Planning permission for the development was granted by Dublin City Council in February 2025 and enabling works are now underway at the site.
While physically situated in Dublin, the National Centre will be accessible for all survivors, whether in other parts of Ireland or abroad. It will provide digital access to records and exhibits, as well as developing physical presences elsewhere, including in conjunction with some local museums, to enable survivors to visit more easily. In this way, the Centre will be a national institution which achieves a global and national reach, as well as strong connections to, and benefits for, the local community.
In relation to Tuam, as the Deputy will be aware, the Director of Authorised Intervention, Tuam, is overseeing the highly sensitive and complex work of recovering, analysing and arranging for the dignified reburial of the children’s remains found at the site of the former Mother and Baby institution in the town. The Director has published five technical updates on his work to date and is committed to ensuring that the families, local community, other stakeholders and the public are kept informed as his work progresses.